Find the Uphill Trail and Carry On.

 Sometimes we fall down and forget that there is a way to get back up. Sometimes we forget the desire we once had to rise above whatever we have fallen into. In these moments of despair and pain we search for somewhere to turn. Some search out God and plead for Heavenly help, others turn to the very things that brought them to their burdened state, while others turn to trusted friends and family members to rise above. Now whether you face depression, addiction, discouragement, or any of the other ailments in this life I think it is important to remember a few things.

Somebody, somewhere, Loves You.

When we are down, we often isolate ourselves from those around us and seek solitude. While time alone can be very beneficial, this is not always the best course to take. We need to remember that we have support. There is always somebody who loves us. For one, God loves us and wishes always for our betterment. He loves us and guides us but will never force us to do His will. He wants us to be obedient because we love Him. Second, for those fortunate enough to be surrounded by a loving family it is often easy to find sources of strength in personal battles. Third, you never know which of your friends is relying on your strength to carry on. You have friends who love you whether you have noticed yet or not.

Giving up isn't worth the Trouble.

When I fight for something, it is something that I deem worth fighting for. I have found that the things in life which come easy are often not the qualities or habits that I would like to have in my life. Pride, selfishness, anger, impatience, lust, and other worldly vices are easy to come by and easily expressed toward others. Like a river flowing down a mountain, without constant course corrections, our character will sink lower and lower until we hit the lowest we can go. The attributes and virtues of humility, selflessness, kindness, patience, and love are not to be found at the bottom of the mountain, or even at the top. These more delicate attributes are not suddenly gained at the end of a great journey but instead are found on the upward path that leads to the pinnacle of what mankind has to offer. Fighting our way along the path of personal betterment we will find that there many risks to take, vices to remove, many times we must ask for forgiveness, and many times we can offer new friendships to those along our way.

Progress is Worth it.

The cost of improving ourselves will always be worth it in the end. I know of nobody who has reached a higher plane of existence who wishes they could be right at the worst part of their life again or that they could be the worst version of themselves again. I know that as I strive to improve it hurts to fall back to where I used to be. Every step we take in our journey of improvement is worth all the effort we can put into it.  Like climbing a mountain, we don't always see the peak of what we can be, our vision may be impaired by low hanging clouds of doubt, or the downpour of negative thinking, but as we persevere, the air will clear and allow us to see the progress we have made. Moving onward and upward is a journey we all need to take if we wish to be the people that we were meant to be.

Keep Moving.

Whatever the challenge, whatever the price, we can be sure that if we keep moving we will one day succeed. It is often found that the gifted are lazy and never do much with their gifts while those of us who have to rely on hard work and determination can succeed beyond what anyone expected because we were willing to work for it. No matter the darkness that surrounds you, or things that hedge up the way, keep putting one foot in front of the other until you've passed them by. I know that as we work to achieve our best self, doors will be opened, our lives will be changed, and we will be a power for good in this world where it is seldom to be found. I wish to be the best I can be and hope you will join me in this journey.

What will you change first?


Thanks for reading.

Hope

Hope is something that we all need, at least it is something that I need. It seems that the harder I try to become what I truly want to become the more desperate my cause begins to look in my eyes. Hope is a motivator, a way to fuel your drive to carry on. Though unseen, it can be nearly tangible in those who possess it. Those with a seemingly endless supply of hope are the people that we drift toward in our times of trouble. Sometimes we lend that hope to others, sometimes we are the ones in need.

On a recent Tuesday, I had the chance to climb to the peak of one of the tallest mountains in Utah. I had high hopes that the weather would be nice, all the people we had invited would come, and to we would be able to finish in a reasonable amount of time. 

The ascent was cool, not to the point of unpleasant since we were moving at a good clip. At that pace it seemed like the miles would just drift away behind us. My friend had decided not to bring a jacket and since she looked cold I loaned her mine. As we climbed the clouds began to thicken into a horizon stealing fog. We had spatters of rain and the clouds swirled in the mountain wind. The temperature slowly dropped as we gained altitude. 60, 55, 50, 45...

Forty five degrees really isn't too cold, when you're dry, but with the mist and the rain my enthusiasm was beginning to wane. I was cold, but still determined to reach the peak. My body was really feeling the consequences of the exertion now. My hands were swollen, my breath labored as the air thinned toward the peak. My steps slowed and sometimes stopped altogether as I caught my breath, holding the rough rock wall to keep from tumbling down the way I had come, but I had hope. I had climbed this mountain before, I knew it was within the range of my abilities, at least it had been once. 

With nothing but hope and strength of willpower I trudged the last 100 yards to the peak. My hopes had been realized! I had made it! Unfortunately, the peak is the halfway point in a hike like ours and soon the time came to turn back, leave the peak, and brave the rain and the cold once again.

The peak had been the point at which I had directed my hopes for the hike and once we had reached that point I turned somewhat relieved, somewhat reluctant to head back. My shirt and shorts, heavy from the rain and chilled by the wind began to drain my positivity away as we trudged back along the path we had just come. The increase in rain, compounded by an upset stomach began to taint my hope-filled vision of what the hike was supposed to be. I walked in silence. I focused on my aching knees, my swollen hands, and the cold and lost the smile I had when the day began. 

However, a new source of hope entered my mind, something to look forward to, the heater in the car waiting at the far end of the trail. The hope and desire to have that warmth fueled my haphazard steps as I moved down the winding, sloping path. Exhausted, we arrived at the car and enjoyed the warmth as we headed back to civilization.

What did I learn about hope from all of this? I learned that you can't hope for only peaks, you have to hold onto hope until your entire journey is complete. Hope that is misguided can be even worse than having no hope at all. The key, in my eyes, is to always remember the end goal, and hope for it. Focus on the peaks along the way to give you strength to move forward, but never think that you can stay on the peak forever. At some point we all have a descent from the grand moments in life to find that the simplest things can hold an equal share of joy and accomplishment. 

To have peaked was an accomplishment in its self, but to return from that peak with head held high and a smile on my lips was an accomplishment greater still. Hope til the end, hope for all that is good. Help others to hope for better things to come. 

What peak are you climbing towards?

Thanks for reading.

Trust or Fear?

Trust, an interesting concept, controls how we interact with our entire world. The only reason we get in our cars to go somewhere is because we trust that the car can get us there. We share information with others based on how much we trust them, some know our whole life story while others may only know some of our favorite movies or restaurants. To a very select few we trust with our heart with the hope that they will cherish, love, and protect us from harm, pain, or sadness. Unfortunately trust is often misplaced in others who had no intention of protecting us but only wanted to do things to benefit themselves. When our trust is broken we often have a hard time trusting others, especially the one or ones who broke the trust.

On April Fools Day in 2011, I was driving from college to spend the weekend at home when I was involved in an accident. My car wound up on its side blocking two lanes of traffic. Luckily, my only physical injury was a bruise from the seat belt, but the mental toll was a bit more than that. This was my first experience where the vehicle I had been riding in had been in such a dramatic event. To this day I am wary of the place this accident happened and I am very cautious when I pass that place. My trust had been broken, I no longer was living in the world where cars were perfectly safe, I entered the world where each driving experience had potential to be dangerous.

Since then I have decided that when we experience a breach of trust we can suffer from PTSD (Post Trust Stress Disorder, a theory based off of the real PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). While the similarities between the two are limited they share a few commonalities. 

1. If not dealt with properly, breaches of trust and traumatic events can cause unsettling fear when confronted with similar situations or problems. 

2. The fear experienced can begin to limit your ability to perform tasks that once seemed simple.

After this wreck, it took me a while to be comfortable driving again. I drove out of necessity not because I wanted to be driving. The same process can happen in smaller and individual ways as well, when one gives their heart to another and gets hurt, they will most likely be more timid in the future whether it shows immediately on the outside or not. The fear that has been generated from the negative experience, if not overcome, begins to eat away at their desire to trust or to love. 

For me, I take into account that the majority of my driving experiences have been completely safe and, basing my thoughts on that, I am comfortable in the driver seat of a car. If I had thrown away all the positive experiences I have had while driving just because of a few negative experiences, I would live in a world dominated by my fears. Unfortunately, some are unable, for whatever reason, to shake off the negativity generated by the past. For some it is psychological, the result of depression or another mental illness but for others their lives can change just as quickly as their perspective. 

Maybe the negativity in the past can be changed by a shift in perspective, maybe it will take some recovery time, and in some cases, even professional help but if you achieve the feat of turning the negativity into something that doesn't need to be feared you will be free. You will find the light shines a little brighter and the troubles seem less troubling because you know how to overcome them.

Do you trust me?

Thanks for reading.

My Perspective

The old expression "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is the topic of today's post. There are expectations and standards of beauty in the world we live in. We hear that to be beautiful you have to look exactly like so, wear this brand of clothes, do these certain things, and the list goes on and on. The same goes for places and things; many will only find something beautiful if it was made by a specific designer, out of something valuable and recognizeable, or if it is on the "Top Ten Most Beautiful Places to Vacation" list.

Leaving behind all of the stereotypes and expectations I want to talk about some things that I find beautiful. These may seem somewhat strange to you but they all come from my life experiences and who knows, maybe you'll agree with me.

As a longbaorder a freshly paved road is a beautiful thing. Two trees surrounded by a nice green lawn is gem for slacklining. Something as ordinary as a woodpile or drainpipe can be exquisite when viewed through a camera lens. Those three things may seem common or ordinary if you don't see it in the same way I do. Through my experiences I find beauty in these ordinary, everyday situations.

The message I want to send Is that we should Never let ourselves be confined to viewing the world by someone else's standards. Look at life through the lens of your own experience. Find the beauty in the earth that may be beautiful only for you and hold on to the joy that comes from that. Last of all, don't worry so much about what everyone else says you have to be to be beautiful. Learning what is beautiful to others can open your eyes, but focusing on only their perspective can blind you to what really matters to you.

What is beautiful only to you?

Think about it.

Thanks for reading.

What's the word?

Here I sit in a chair that doesn't belong to me, in a room that isn't mine, in a town that I don't live in typing away on a blog just to pass the time. Lately I've been thinking about communication. I wonder why I say the things I do, and whether or not they actually mean anything or if I'm just saying things to be heard. Some random thoughts in my mind bring questions to the surface that shake my whole comprehension of communication. 

Why do I say the exact same "How are you?" to every single person I see? It is always said in the same tone of voice, at the same volume, and the same level of sincerity. However, when I see someone I know, especially someone that I have known for a long time, I can bypass the superficiality of that  greating and step into a level of communication so much deeper and meaningful on both sides. 

A mother and child can communicate many things to and from each other long before the child can speak, a pet and their owner can bridge the gap between species and understand quite a lot about one another, but how can someone as simple as man like me find a way to connect beyond the surface with each communication? That is my question for today. How can I, do more than just speak, and truly become a communicator?

I don't think it is all my fault though... The tendency to be closed off, nervous, shy, timid, distrustful, introverted, or just plain disinterested in others plagues most of the human population in one way or another. Even those in the deepest holes behind the largest walls have the ability to be touched by something though, whether it be music, a smile, a hug, someone to listen, or someone who can see past the problems to the person weighed down by it all they long in some way for communication.

I hope to find a way to communicate in a deeper way to everyone I see, not just those who I have always known, but to those who would by known if only someone would take the time to communicate beyond the instant superficiality of this generation. 

Food for thought. Thanks for reading.